London Philharmonic Orchestra Eastbourne 5 Oct 2014 concert programme by London Philharmonic Orchestra

Congress Theatre, Eastbourne Concert programme lpo.org.uk

Winner of the 2013 RPS Music Award for Ensemble Principal Conductor and Artistic Advisor VLADIMIR JUROWSKI* Leader pieter schoeman† Composer in Residence magnus lindberg Patron HRH THE DUKE OF KENT KG Chief Executive and Artistic Director TIMOTHY WALKER AM

Congress Theatre, Eastbourne Sunday 5 October 2014 | 3.00pm

Dvořák The Noonday Witch (17’) Rachmaninoff Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini (23’) Interval Tchaikovsky Symphony No. 6 in B minor (Pathétique) (45’)

Vladimir Jurowski conductor Jean-Efflam Bavouzet piano

In co-operation with the Serge Rachmaninoff Foundation

* supported by the Tsukanov Family Foundation and one anonymous donor † supported by Neil Westreich CONCERT PRESENTED BY THE LONDON PHILHARMONIC ORCHESTRA IN ASSOCIATION WITH EASTBOURNE BOROUGH COUNCIL

Programme £2.50 Contents 2 Welcome LPO 2014/15 season 3 On stage 4 About the Orchestra 6 Vladimir Jurowski 7 Jean-Efflam Bavouzet 8 Programme notes 11 Orchestra news 13 Backstage 14 Supporters 15 Sound Futures donors 16 LPO administration The timings shown are not precise and are given only as a guide.

Welcome

Welcome to the Congress Theatre, Eastbourne Artistic Director Chris Jordan General Manager Gavin Davis Welcome to this afternoon’s performance by the London Philharmonic Orchestra. We hope you enjoy the concert and your visit here. As a courtesy to others, please ensure mobile phones and watch alarms are switched off during the performance. Thank you. We are delighted and proud to have the London Philharmonic Orchestra reside at the Congress Theatre for the 18th year. Thank you, our audience, for continuing to support the concert series. Without you, these concerts would not be possible. We welcome comments from our customers. Should you wish to contribute, please speak to the House Manager on duty, email theatres@eastbourne.gov.uk or write to Gavin Davis, General Manager, Eastbourne Theatres, Compton Street, Eastbourne, East Sussex, BN21 4BP.

2014/15 London Philharmonic Orchestra season at the Congress Theatre Pick up a season brochure as you leave tonight, call 020 7840 4242 to request a copy, or browse online at lpo.org.uk/eastbourne Sunday 5 October 2014 | 3.00pm

Sunday 15 March 2015 | 3.00pm

Dvořák The Noonday Witch Rachmaninoff Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini Tchaikovsky Symphony No. 6 (Pathétique)

Beethoven Symphony No. 1 Haydn Piano Concerto in D major, Hob. VIII.11 Rossini Overture, The Barber of Seville Mozart Symphony No. 41, K551 (Jupiter)

Vladimir Jurowski conductor Jean-Efflam Bavouzet piano

Daniel Smith conductor Maria Meerovitch piano

Sunday 30 November 2014 | 3.00pm Beethoven Violin Concerto Brahms Symphony No. 1

Sunday 29 March 2015 | 3.00pm

Aziz Shokhakimov conductor Dmitri Berlinsky violin

Tchaikovsky Romeo and Juliet (Fantasy Overture) Elgar Cello Concerto Rimsky-Korsakov Scheherazade

Sunday 22 February 2015 | 3.00pm

Jaime Martín conductor Andreas Brantelid cello

Borodin In the Steppes of Central Asia Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto Dvořák Symphony No. 9 (From the New World) Garry Walker conductor Tamsin Waley-Cohen violin

Sunday 12 April 2015 | 3.00pm Elgar Introduction and Allegro Mendelssohn Violin Concerto Beethoven Symphony No. 7 Domingo Hindoyan conductor Madalyn Parnas violin

Tickets £13–£29 plus £1 postage per booking. Season discounts of up to 20% available. Box Office 01323 412000 | Book online at eastbournetheatres.co.uk

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On stage

First Violins Pieter Schoeman* Leader Chair supported by Neil Westreich

Vesselin Gellev Sub-Leader Ilyoung Chae Chair supported by an anonymous donor

Ji-Hyun Lee Chair supported by Eric Tomsett

Catherine Craig Thomas Eisner Geoffrey Lynn Chair supported by Caroline, Jamie & Zander Sharp

Robert Pool Yang Zhang Grace Lee Galina Tanney Caroline Frenkel Second Violins Victoria Sayles Guest Principal Jeongmin Kim Joseph Maher Nancy Elan Lorenzo Gentili-Tedeschi Fiona Higham Marie-Anne Mairesse Ashley Stevens Harry Kerr Stephen Stewart

Violas Cyrille Mercier Principal Robert Duncan Gregory Aronovich Susanne Martens Benedetto Pollani Laura Vallejo Michelle Bruil Isabel Pereira Cellos Kristina Blaumane Principal Pei-Jee Ng Laura Donoghue Santiago Carvalho† David Lale Gregory Walmsley Elisabeth Wiklander Double Basses Kevin Rundell* Principal Laurence Lovelle George Peniston Richard Lewis Tom Walley Flutes Juliette Bausor Guest Principal Sue Thomas* Chair supported by the Sharp Family

Stewart McIlwham* Piccolo Stewart McIlwham* Principal

Oboes Ian Hardwick Principal Lucie Sprague Cor Anglais Sue Böhling Principal Chair supported by Julian & Gill Simmonds

Clarinets James Burke Guest Principal Emily Meredith Paul Richards Bass Clarinet Paul Richards Principal Bassoons Gareth Newman Principal Laura Vincent Horns David Pyatt* Principal Chair supported by Simon Robey

John Ryan* Principal Martin Hobbs Mark Vines Co-Principal Gareth Mollison Trumpets Nicholas Betts Principal Anne McAneney* Chair supported by Geoff & Meg Mann

Trombones Mark Templeton* Principal Chair supported by William & Alex de Winton

Matthew Knight Bass Trombone Lyndon Meredith Principal Tuba Lee Tsarmaklis* Principal Chair supported by Friends of the Orchestra

Timpani Simon Carrington* Principal Percussion Andrew Barclay* Principal Chair supported by Andrew Davenport

Tom Edwards Keith Millar Jeremy Cornes Harp Rachel Masters* Principal

* Holds a professorial appointment in London † Chevalier of the Brazilian Order of Rio Branco

Robin Totterdell

Chair Supporters The London Philharmonic Orchestra also acknowledges the following chair supporters whose players are not present at this concert: Sonja Drexler David & Victoria Graham Fuller

London Philharmonic Orchestra | 3

London Philharmonic Orchestra

The LPO’s playing throughout was exceptional in its warmth, finesse and detail. The Guardian, January 2013 The London Philharmonic Orchestra is one of the world’s finest orchestras, balancing a long and distinguished history with its present-day position as one of the most dynamic and forward-looking orchestras in the UK. As well as its performances in the concert hall, the Orchestra also records film and video game soundtracks, releases CDs on its own record label, and reaches thousands of people every year through activities for families, schools and community groups. The Orchestra was founded by Sir Thomas Beecham in 1932. It has since been headed by many of the world’s greatest conductors including Sir Adrian Boult, Bernard Haitink, Sir Georg Solti, Klaus Tennstedt and Kurt Masur. Vladimir Jurowski is currently the Orchestra’s Principal Conductor and Artistic Advisor, appointed in 2007. From September 2015 Andrés Orozco-Estrada will take up the position of Principal Guest Conductor. Magnus Lindberg is the Orchestra’s current Composer in Residence. The Orchestra is based at Southbank Centre’s Royal Festival Hall in London, where it has performed since the Hall’s opening in 1951 and been Resident Orchestra since 1992. It gives around 30 concerts there each season with many of the world’s top conductors and

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soloists. Throughout 2013 the Orchestra collaborated with Southbank Centre on the year-long The Rest Is Noise festival, charting the influential works of the 20th century. 2014/15 highlights include a seasonlong festival, Rachmaninoff: Inside Out, exploring the composer’s major orchestral masterpieces; premieres of works by Harrison Birtwistle, Julian Anderson, Colin Matthews, James Horner and the Orchestra’s new Composer in Residence, Magnus Lindberg; and appearances by many of today’s most soughtafter artists including Maria João Pires, Christoph Eschenbach, Yannick Nézet-Séguin, Osmo Vänskä, Lars Vogt, Barbara Hannigan, Vasily Petrenko, Marin Alsop, Katia and Marielle Labèque and Robin Ticciati. Outside London, the Orchestra has flourishing residencies in Brighton and Eastbourne, and performs regularly around the UK. Each summer it takes up its annual residency at Glyndebourne Festival Opera in the Sussex countryside, where it has been Resident Symphony Orchestra for over 50 years. The Orchestra also tours internationally, performing to sell-out audiences worldwide. In 1956 it became the first British orchestra to appear in Soviet Russia and in 1973 made the first ever visit to China by a Western orchestra.

Pieter Schoeman leader

Pieter Schoeman was appointed Leader of the LPO in 2008, having previously been Co-Leader since 2002.

The London Philharmonic Orchestra has recorded the soundtracks to numerous blockbuster films, from The Lord of the Rings trilogy to Lawrence of Arabia, East is East, The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey and Thor: The Dark World. It also broadcasts regularly on television and radio, and in 2005 established its own record label. There are now over 80 releases available on CD and to download. Recent additions include Poulenc and Saint-Saëns organ works with Yannick Nézet-Séguin and organist James O’Donnell; Strauss’s Don Juan and Ein Heldenleben with Bernard Haitink; Brahms’s Symphonies Nos. 3 & 4 and Zemlinsky’s A Florentine Tragedy with Vladimir Jurowski; and Orff’s Carmina Burana with Hans Graf. In summer 2012 the London Philharmonic Orchestra performed as part of The Queen’s Diamond Jubilee Pageant on the River Thames, and was also chosen to record all the world’s national anthems for the London 2012 Olympics. In 2013 it was the winner of the RPS Music Award for Ensemble. The London Philharmonic Orchestra is committed to inspiring the next generation of musicians through an energetic programme of activities for young people. Highlights include the BrightSparks schools’ concerts and FUNharmonics family concerts; the Young Composers Programme; and the Foyle Future Firsts orchestral training programme for outstanding young players. Its work at the forefront of digital engagement and social media has enabled the Orchestra to reach even more people worldwide: all its recordings are available to download from iTunes and, as well as a YouTube channel and regular podcast series, the Orchestra has a lively presence on Facebook and Twitter. Find out more and get involved! lpo.org.uk facebook.com/londonphilharmonicorchestra twitter.com/LPOrchestra

Touring remains a large part of the Orchestra’s life: highlights of the 2014/15 season include appearances across Europe (including Iceland) and tours to the USA (West and East Coasts), Canada and China.

Born in South Africa, he made his solo debut aged 10 with the Cape Town Symphony Orchestra. He studied with Jack de Wet in South Africa, winning numerous competitions including the 1984 World Youth Concerto Competition in the US. In 1987 he was offered the Heifetz Chair of Music scholarship to study with Eduard Schmieder in Los Angeles and in 1991 his talent was spotted by Pinchas Zukerman, who recommended that he move to New York to study with Sylvia Rosenberg. In 1994 he became her teaching assistant at Indiana University, Bloomington. Pieter has performed worldwide as a soloist and recitalist in such famous halls as the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, Moscow’s Rachmaninov Hall, Capella Hall in St Petersburg, Staatsbibliothek in Berlin, Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles, and Southbank Centre’s Queen Elizabeth Hall in London. As a chamber musician he regularly performs at London’s prestigious Wigmore Hall. As a soloist with the London Philharmonic Orchestra, Pieter has performed Arvo Pärt’s Double Concerto with Boris Garlitsky, Brahms’s Double Concerto with Kristina Blaumane, and Britten’s Double Concerto with Alexander Zemtsov, which was recorded and released on the Orchestra’s own record label to great critical acclaim. He has recorded numerous violin solos with the London Philharmonic Orchestra for Chandos, Opera Rara, Naxos, X5, the BBC and for American film and television, and led the Orchestra in its soundtrack recordings for The Lord of the Rings trilogy. In 1995 Pieter became Co-Leader of the Orchestre Philharmonique de Nice. Since then he has appeared frequently as Guest Leader with the Barcelona, Bordeaux, Lyon, Baltimore and BBC symphony orchestras, and the Rotterdam and BBC Philharmonic orchestras. He is a Professor of Violin at Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance in London. Pieter’s chair in the London Philharmonic Orchestra is supported by Neil Westreich. London Philharmonic Orchestra | 5

Vladimir Jurowski Principal Conductor and Artistic Advisor

Quite apart from the immaculate preparation and the most elegant conducting style in the business, Jurowski programmes with an imagination matched by none of London’s other principal conductors.

The Arts Desk, December 2012

One of today’s most sought-after conductors, acclaimed worldwide for his incisive musicianship and adventurous artistic commitment, Vladimir Jurowski was born in Moscow and studied at the Music Academies of Dresden and Berlin. In 1995 he made his international debut at the Wexford Festival conducting Rimsky-Korsakov’s May Night, and the same year saw his debut at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, with Nabucco. Vladimir Jurowski was appointed Principal Guest Conductor of the London Philharmonic Orchestra in 2003, becoming Principal Conductor in 2007. He also holds the titles of Principal Artist of the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment and Artistic Director of the Russian State Academic Symphony Orchestra. He has previously held the positions of First Kapellmeister of the Komische Oper Berlin (1997–2001), Principal Guest Conductor of the Teatro Comunale di Bologna (2000–03), Principal Guest Conductor of the Russian National Orchestra (2005–09), and Music Director of Glyndebourne Festival Opera (2001–13). He is a regular guest with many leading orchestras in both Europe and North America, including the Berlin, New York and St Petersburg Philharmonic orchestras; the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra; The Philadelphia Orchestra; The Cleveland Orchestra; the Boston, San Francisco and Chicago symphony orchestras; and the Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich, Leipzig Gewandhausorchester, Mahler Chamber Orchestra, Staatskapelle Dresden and Chamber Orchestra of Europe.

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His opera engagements have included Rigoletto, Jenůfa, The Queen of Spades, Hansel and Gretel and Die Frau ohne Schatten at the Metropolitan Opera, New York; Parsifal and Wozzeck at Welsh National Opera; War and Peace at the Opéra national de Paris; Eugene Onegin at the Teatro alla Scala, Milan; Ruslan and Ludmila at the Bolshoi Theatre; and numerous operas at Glyndebourne including Otello, Macbeth, Falstaff, Tristan und Isolde, Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg, Don Giovanni, The Cunning Little Vixen, Peter Eötvös’s Love and Other Demons, and Ariadne auf Naxos. lpo.org.uk/about/jurowski

Watch a video of Vladimir Jurowski introducing the LPO 2014/15 season: vimeo.com/105645566

Jean-Efflam Bavouzet piano

He makes you listen to music as if you are discovering it Eureka!style: yes, that’s what the composer must have meant.

The Financial Times on Bavouzet’s Beethoven Sonatas Vol. 1 recording, May 2012

Award-winning pianist Jean-Efflam Bavouzet enjoys a prolific recording and international concert career. He is also Artistic Director of a new biennial piano festival set in the stunning scenery of Norway’s Lofoten Islands. The inaugural festival took place in July 2014. Bavouzet records exclusively for Chandos and his most recent releases include the complete Prokofiev piano concertos with the BBC Philharmonic and Gianandrea Noseda, and ongoing Beethoven and Haydn piano sonata cycles. His recordings have earned him multiple prizes including two Gramophone Awards, two BBC Music Magazine Awards, a Diapason d’Or and Choc de l’année. Summer 2014 saw Bavouzet perform with the Netherlands Philharmonic Orchestra at the Robeco SummerNights in Amsterdam’s Concertgebouw. He also returned to the Tivoli Orchestra to perform concertos by Haydn and Beethoven, directing from the keyboard. He kicks off the 2014/15 season with a USA tour with the London Philharmonic Orchestra under Vladimir Jurowski, which includes Carnegie Hall. The season also features his debuts with the Orchestre Philharmonique du Luxembourg under Emmanuel Krivine, the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra under Louis Langrée and the Orchestra della Svizzera Italiana in Lugano (Vladimir Ashkenazy).

Recent highlights have included concerts with the Pittsburgh and Beijing symphony orchestras, as well as the Bayerisches Staatsorchester and François-Xavier Roth in Munich, and returns to the Philharmonia Orchestra, the Manchester Camerata (Gábor TakácsNagy) and the Warsaw Philharmonic Orchestra, where he performed a complete cycle of Beethoven’s piano concertos. He regularly collaborates with conductors such as Vasily Petrenko, Daniele Gatti, Valery Gergiev, Neeme Järvi, Esa-Pekka Salonen, Kirill Karabits, Andris Nelsons, Krzysztof Urbański, Antoni Wit, Yan-Pascal Tortelier and Iván Fischer. An equally active recitalist, Bavouzet returns this season to the Louvre in Paris and London’s Wigmore Hall, and gives recitals in Munich and Budapest as well as Taiwan, Melbourne and Brisbane. Bavouzet has worked closely with Pierre Boulez, Maurice Ohana and Bruno Mantovani and is also a champion of lesser-known French music, notably that of Gabriel Pierné and Albéric Magnard. He regularly collaborates with the Palazzetto Bru Zane and has devised a chamber music programme dedicated to the music of Magnard. bavouzet.com facebook.com/JeanEfflamBavouzet

He returns to the Orchestre National de France (Juanjo Mena), the Hong Kong Philharmonic, to Japan to work with the NHK Symphony Orchestra, and to Australia for concerts with the Sydney and Adelaide symphony orchestras. His Residency at the Orquestra Sinfônica do Estado de São Paulo concludes with a week of chamber music, recitals and masterclasses.

Jean-Efflam discusses his personal viewpoint on music and pianos, and discusses his favourite composers, early musical experience and more in a YouTube video by Yamaha Music UK: bit.ly/1rC9KB3

London Philharmonic Orchestra | 7

Programme notes

Speedread All the works in tonight’s concert come from late in their composers’ careers. Dvořák only took up composing descriptive tone-poems after he had written all his symphonies and concertos, but when he did he found the often macabre world of Czech folk legend – typified by The Noonday Witch – a fruitful source of inspiration. Rachmaninoff brought

Antonín Dvořák

all his accumulated skill and maturity as a composer and virtuoso pianist to bear in the brilliant showpiece that is the Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini. And Tchaikovsky’s final work, composed only a few weeks before his death, is a tragic and momentous struggle with Fate, ending in one of the bleakest movements in the symphonic canon.

The Noonday Witch, Op. 108

1841–1904

Dvořák’s natural inclination as a composer of orchestral music, reinforced by his friendship with and encouragement by Brahms, was towards the Classical forms of the symphony and concerto. It was only towards the end of his career, three years after he had composed his last symphony (the ‘New World’) and one after completing his last concerto (for cello), that he gave serious attention to the genre more popular with composers of nationalist stamp: the descriptive tone-poem. From January to April 1896 he worked simultaneously on three tone-poems – The Water Goblin, The Noonday Witch and The Golden Spinning Wheel – based on traditional Czech tales preserved in the poet and folklorist Karel Jaromír Erben’s collection Kytice (‘Bouquet’), first published in Prague in 1853. All three compositions were premiered in London in the autumn of 1896, by which time Dvořák had completed a fourth work, The Wild Dove. The folk stories Erben chose for his collection are run through with the humorous, the magical and the macabre, and The Noonday Witch (Polednice in its Czech title) is no exception. It tells of a mother working to prepare the midday meal for her husband, who is away labouring in the fields. In the corner of the kitchen her

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restless child begins to pester and then scream, and twice the exasperated mother warns him to be quiet or she will summon the noonday witch to take him away. At this, to the mother’s shock and horror, the door slowly opens to reveal the witch herself, who demands to be given the infant. There is a chase, and the mother swoons in exhaustion. As the clock strikes twelve the witch disappears, and when the father returns he finds his wife collapsed on the floor and his child dead. Dvořák’s musical treatment of the story is straightforward. At the beginning we hear the mother’s initial good temper interrupted by insistent repeated notes from the child. The irritation increases, until the mother lets fly, only half in anger it would seem. Until now the mood has remained essentially humorous, but this changes when a sinister blast on the low instruments and held notes on bass clarinet signal the arrival of the witch. She issues her demand in a sevennote phrase on bass clarinet and bassoon, a phrase that will grow in stature and menace in the struggle that ensues. Finally we hear the father’s jaunty return, confusion, and horror-struck discovery.

Serge Rachmaninoff

Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini, Op. 43 Jean-Efflam Bavouzet piano

1873–1943

‘It is called Symphonic Variations on a theme by Paganini’, wrote Rachmaninoff to his sister-in-law in August 1934 of his new (and last) work for piano and orchestra. A few weeks later he was calling it a ‘fantasy’, but by the time of its premiere in Baltimore in November (the composer the soloist, with Leopold Stokowski conducting The Philadelphia Orchestra) it had acquired its now familiar name. By 1934 Rachmaninoff had been living in the USA for 16 years, having left Russia after the 1917 Revolution had deprived him of much of his property and comfortable existence. In Russia he had been known principally as a conductor and composer, but in America he had to develop his career as a concert pianist to earn a living, and the only significant compositions he had so far produced there – the Fourth Piano Concerto (1926) and ‘Corelli’ Variations for solo piano (1931) – were conceived very much with his own public performances in mind. Neither of those had enjoyed great success, but with the Rhapsody Rachmaninoff struck gold; it quickly became one of his most popular and frequently performed works, a status it still enjoys today, rivalled only by the Second Piano Concerto of 1901. ‘Symphonic Variations’ would probably have been a more accurate title for the work, since, far from being free in construction, it is a taut set of 24 discrete variations on a theme from a caprice for solo violin by the great 19th-century virtuoso Nicolò Paganini. Paganini’s piece, probably composed around 1805, was itself a set of variations and had already been the

subject of solo piano variations by Liszt and Brahms, but it is undoubtedly Rachmaninoff’s romantic treatment of it – supremely skilled in its orchestral scoring and glittering piano-writing – that has prolonged its popularity among composers even up to our own time. Rachmaninoff opens it with a neat trick, as Variation 1 precedes the theme proper, which is then announced by the violins with only token involvement of the piano. The first few variations fly by at pace, with a temporary slowing at Variation 7 for Rachmaninoff to introduce a chordal secondary theme in the piano, that of the solemn plainchant melody associated with the Dies irae section of the Latin Mass for the Dead. This was not the first time he had made use of this ancient tune (it had occurred, for instance, in his 1909 tone-poem The Isle of the Dead) and it would not be the last (it would resurface in his last work, the Symphonic Dances of 1940), but the exact nature of its lasting significance to the composer has never been clear. It will also reappear later in this Rhapsody. A greater change of mood comes at Variation 11, the start of a predominantly slower central section which modulates broadly and culminates in the famous Variation 18, in which, by inverting the theme’s first five notes and putting them into the major, he produces one of music’s great romantic melodies. After this has lingered on the air the music snaps back to the home key and atmosphere of the opening, from there to begin its clamorous mount to the finish, with the Dies irae theme still in attendance.

Interval – 20 minutes A bell will be rung a few minutes before the end of the interval.

London Philharmonic Orchestra | 9

Programme notes continued

Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky 1840–93

In August 1893, as his Sixth Symphony was nearing completion, Tchaikovsky wrote to his nephew, ‘Bob’ Davidov: ‘I can tell you in all sincerity that I consider this symphony the best thing I have ever done. In any case, it is the most deeply felt. And I love it as I have never loved any of my compositions.’ Few would disagree with Tchaikovsky’s assessment of his last work, a masterpiece of frank and disturbing emotion whose effect on the listener is made all the more powerful by the realisation that it reflects the composer’s depressive state of mind during his final year. At the time he began work on it in February 1893, he had told Bob that it was ‘a programme symphony, but to a programme that should remain an enigma for everyone but myself: let them try and guess it! ... The theme is full of subjective feeling, so much so that as I was mentally composing it ... I frequently shed tears.’ Death was certainly a subject that occupied Tchaikovsky’s mind at this time: although he presumably did not foresee his own demise the following autumn – almost certainly by his own hand – he did lose a number of close friends that year, and an early version of the programme scribbled down in 1892 had borne prominently the words ‘life’ and ‘death’. But a more fundamental impetus for the Sixth Symphony was surely the spectre that had haunted the composer for many years: Fate. For Tchaikovsky, this was the implacable power that frustrated all his hopes of happiness, and his previous two symphonies had both attempted to respond to it in some way: the Fourth had confronted and then tried to brush it aside, while the Fifth had scored a somewhat hollow-sounding victory. The Sixth – subtitled by the composer ‘Pathétique’ – finally gives in to total defeat.

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Symphony No. 6 in B minor, Op. 74 (Pathétique) 1 2 3 4

Adagio – Allegro non troppo Allegro con grazia Allegro molto vivace Finale: Adagio lamentoso

The Sixth Symphony differs from its two predecessors in having no recurring motto theme; instead, it makes use of a number of themes suggestive of upwards struggle followed by downward collapse, an outline that mirrors the overall course of the Symphony. Its presence can be detected in the murky opening of the first movement, and the material of this introduction also forms the basis of the main Allegro non troppo section’s restless first theme. A broad and passionate melody follows this, but any hope of consolation is violently shattered by the intervention of the central development section. This climaxes in a momentous and grinding downward sequence, and when the second theme re-emerges it is with a bitter irony that borders on pain. The passion subsides, however, and the movement closes in a mood of resignation. The second movement promises brighter things, but its waltz-like geniality is undermined by a five-in-a-bar metre and a poignant trio and coda. It is followed by a brilliant movement in which scurrying preparations and fragments of melody lead to a seemingly joyful and triumphant march, but the descending accompaniment reminds us (as do similar figures throughout the work) that the gaiety is forced; happiness is still an illusion. In the Finale it disappears forever in a bleak Adagio in which there is only hopelessness and dejection. It is a testament of despair in which optimism can find no place, and as the music sinks back into the depths from which it has struggled to rise, the final bars of Tchaikovsky’s most personal and sincere symphonic statement are soft but devastating. Programme notes © Lindsay Kemp

Orchestra news

Autumn tours

New CD: Poulenc & Saint-Saëns organ works

2014/15 looks set to be one of the busiest touring seasons in the Orchestra’s history, with a record 47 overseas concerts confirmed as we went to print. Next Thursday (9 October), the Orchestra and Vladimir Jurowski jet off to California – the Orchestra’s first visit to the USA’s West Coast in eight years. Tonight’s soloist, pianist Jean-Efflam Bavouzet joins the Orchestra for concerts in Santa Barbara, Costa Mesa, Northridge (California State University) and San Francisco. They then fly to the East Coast for a concert at New York’s Carnegie Hall, followed by appearances in Toronto (Roy Thomson Hall) and Chicago (Symphony Center).

Just released on the LPO Label is a disc of Poulenc’s Organ Concerto and Saint-Saëns’s ‘Organ’ Symphony, recorded live at Royal Festival Hall (LPO-0081). This sell-out concert in March 2014, conducted by Yannick NézetSéguin with organist James O’Donnell, launched the refurbished Royal Festival Hall organ, complete for the first time since 2005.

Don’t forget you can follow all our tour adventures on Twitter: @lporchestra

The CD is priced £9.99, including free postage and packaging. Buy from lpo.org.uk/recordings, the London Philharmonic Orchestra Box Office (020 7840 4242) and all good CD outlets. Also available to download or stream online via iTunes, Spotify and others.

Box Office 01797 229 049 “You promised us

13-31 October 2014

world class performers & you delivered!”

Festival highlights include orchestra performances by the

Battle Festival Sinfonia

FRIDAY 24th A Sussex Legacy Elgar, Vaughan Williams, Butterworth SATURDAY 25th Welcome to Uke Town with Sara Spade & the Noisy Boys featuring CBeebies’ Katy Ashworth Friends, Family & Rivalry Bach, Handel, Telemann SUNDAY 26th Look, Stranger Utter Jazz featuring Anton Lesser Adopted Sons Haydn, Mozart, JS Bach, Clementi

www.BattleFestival.co.uk

London Philharmonic Orchestra | 11

On the LPO CD Label: Jurowski conducts Tchaikovsky CDs on sale tonight from the Congress Theatre merchandise kiosk

Symphonies Nos. 1 & 6

Symphonies Nos. 4 & 5

Manfred Symphony

Vladimir Jurowski conductor

£10.99 (2CDs) | LPO-0039

£10.99 (2CDs) | LPO-0064

£9.99 (1CD) | LPO-0009

Also available from lpo.org.uk/recordings, the LPO Ticket Office (020 7840 4242) and all good CD outlets Available to download or stream online via iTunes, Spotify, Amazon and others.

Eastbourne Symphony Orchestra www.eso.org.uk

Autumn Concert

St Saviour’s Church, South Street Eastbourne BN21 4UT

Nicolai Saint-Saëns Fauré Gershwin

Merry Wives of Windsor Organ Symphony Pavane Rhapsody in Blue

7pm Saturday 18 October 2014 Conductor Graham Jones Leader

Lisa Wigmore

Soloists

David Force Ke Ma (finalist, ESO competition)

DaviD FORce

Ke Ma

Tickets in advance £13 (£11 for ESO Friends) Tickets bought on the door £15 (£13 for ESO Friends) Reid and Dean, 43–45 Cornfield Road BN21 4QG concertmanager@eso.org.uk 07780 993801 Seats are not reserved

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Backstage

We get to know Geoffrey Lynn, First Violin

Geoffrey celebrates 40 years with the LPO this season, having joined the First Violin section in 1974. We talked to him about life in the Orchestra and some of the most memorable highlights of his career so far.

What were your first experiences of music? My first musical memory is of trying to pick out the notes to Bach’s ‘Jesu, Joy of Man’s Desiring’ on the rather out-of-tune piano at home in Stirling, Scotland. At my primary school the music specialist taught very well. However it appears that my singing was too out-of-tune to let me sing in the school choir! When the headmaster asked if anyone would like violin lessons, my best friend put up his hand and I decided I would like to go with him. After six months my friend decided that he was going to give up and when I informed my mother that I too was going to give up, I was firmly told that that would not be an option. I was ten years old at the time. By the age of 14, I was in the National Youth Orchestra. You originally began studying medicine before moving to the Royal College of Music to study the violin. Why did you decide to switch to music? In 1968 I entered Edinburgh Medical School hoping to become a psychiatrist. After two terms in halls of residence, I could stand it no longer and decided to commute from home, just over 30 miles away. Two terms later I decided to abandon medicine altogether and worked for a short period as a bus conductor. After trying and failing to get into the Royal Academy of Music, I found more success with the Royal College and had three and a half very happy years there, later winning the top violin prize. Do I have any regrets about leaving medicine? I’m sure that psychiatry would not have been without its problems, and I have enough friends who are doctors to know that the grass is brown everywhere!

What have been the highlights of your time with the Orchestra? One of the most memorable projects was the run of Debussy’s Pelléas et Mélisande at Glyndebourne with Andrew Davis in 1999. Another was recording five or six Paganini violin concertos, one after another, in Barking Town Hall with Salvatore Accardo in 1975 – a truly staggering feat of violin playing! What have been the biggest changes to life in the LPO over the last 40 years? The biggest change is probably the extra rehearsal time we’re now allowed. Forty years ago one could often expect to play a concert on one three-hour rehearsal. This practically never happens now with the London concerts, and it has made a huge difference to the standard of our performances. We also now have the use of our own rehearsal space at Henry Wood Hall, which makes life much easier. What are the biggest challenges you face as an orchestral violinist? Which composers do you find trickiest? One of the hardest challenges for all orchestral players is often playing unfamiliar repertoire from poor quality printed parts. Personally, I also find that playing the accompaniment to a Mozart piano concerto with the necessary style and precision is always a challenge to one’s control of the instrument. How do you like to spend your free time? I enjoy spending time with my family: I am married to Frankie and have two children: a daughter, Amy, who is married with a son, Alexander; and a son, Stuart, who got married this summer, so it’s been a busy time recently! At every possible opportunity, you will find me up a mountain clipping on a pair of skis. I also take many other holidays – either visits to somewhere that my wife and I find interesting, or enjoying our ‘second life’ in our flat in Nice on the Côte d’Azur. I’m also to be found cycling into work on a fairly regular basis. Geoffrey’s chair in the London Philharmonic Orchestra is generously supported by Caroline, Jamie & Zander Sharp. Meet the Orchestra members: lpo.org.uk/about/musician-biographies

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We would like to acknowledge the generous support of the following Thomas Beecham Group Patrons, Principal Benefactors and Benefactors: Thomas Beecham Group The Tsukanov Family Foundation Neil Westreich William and Alex de Winton Simon Robey The Sharp Family Julian & Gill Simmonds* Anonymous Garf & Gill Collins* Andrew Davenport Mrs Sonja Drexler David & Victoria Graham Fuller Mrs Philip Kan* Mr & Mrs Makharinsky Geoff & Meg Mann Caroline, Jamie & Zander Sharp Eric Tomsett John & Manon Antoniazzi Jane Attias John & Angela Kessler Guy & Utti Whittaker * BrightSparks patrons. Instead of supporting a chair in the Orchestra, these donors have chosen to support our series of schools’ concerts.

Principal Benefactors Mark & Elizabeth Adams Lady Jane Berrill Desmond & Ruth Cecil Mr John H Cook David Ellen Commander Vincent Evans Mr Daniel Goldstein Peter MacDonald Eggers Dr Eva Lotta & Mr Thierry Sciard Mr & Mrs David Malpas Mr Michael Posen Mr & Mrs G Stein Mr & Mrs John C Tucker Mr & Mrs John & Susi Underwood Lady Marina Vaizey Grenville & Krysia Williams Mr Anthony Yolland Benefactors Mrs A Beare David & Patricia Buck Mrs Alan Carrington Mr & Mrs Stewart Cohen Mr Alistair Corbett Georgy Djaparidze Mr David Edgecombe Mr Richard Fernyhough Tony & Susan Hayes Michael & Christine Henry Malcolm Herring Douglas Home Ivan Hurry Mr Glenn Hurstfield

Per Jonsson Mr Gerald Levin Sheila Ashley Lewis Wg. Cdr. & Mrs M T Liddiard OBE JP RAF Dr Frank Lim Paul & Brigitta Lock Robert Markwick Mr Brian Marsh Andrew T Mills John Montgomery Dr Karen Morton Mr & Mrs Andrew Neill Tom & Phillis Sharpe Martin and Cheryl Southgate Professor John Studd Mr Peter Tausig Mrs Kazue Turner Simon Turner Howard & Sheelagh Watson Mr Laurie Watt Des & Maggie Whitelock Christopher Williams Bill Yoe and others who wish to remain anonymous Hon. Benefactor Elliott Bernerd Hon. Life Members Kenneth Goode Carol Colburn Grigor CBE Pehr G Gyllenhammar Mrs Jackie Rosenfeld OBE

The generosity of our Sponsors, Corporate Members, supporters and donors is gratefully acknowledged: Corporate Members Silver: AREVA UK Berenberg Bank British American Business Carter-Ruck Bronze: Appleyard & Trew LLP Charles Russell Leventis Overseas Preferred Partners Corinthia Hotel London Heineken Lindt & Sprüngli Ltd Sipsmith Steinway Villa Maria In-kind Sponsors Google Inc Sela / Tilley’s Sweets

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Trusts and Foundations Angus Allnatt Charitable Foundation Ambache Charitable Trust Ruth Berkowitz Charitable Trust The Boltini Trust Borletti-Buitoni Trust Britten-Pears Foundation The Candide Trust The Peter Carr Charitable Trust, in memory of Peter Carr The Ernest Cook Trust The Coutts Charitable Trust The D’Oyly Carte Charitable Trust Dunard Fund The Equitable Charitable Trust Fidelio Charitable Trust The Foyle Foundation Lucille Graham Trust The Jeniffer and Jonathan Harris Charitable Trust Help Musicians UK The Hinrichsen Foundation The Hobson Charity Kirby Laing Foundation The Leche Trust Marsh Christian Trust

The Mayor of London’s Fund for Young Musicians Adam Mickiewicz Institute The Peter Minet Trust The Ann and Frederick O’Brien Charitable Trust Palazzetto Bru Zane – Centre de musique romantique française Polish Cultural Institute in London PRS for Music Foundation Rivers Foundation The R K Charitable Trust Serge Rachmaninoff Foundation Schroder Charity Trust Ernst von Siemens Music Foundation The David Solomons Charitable Trust The Steel Charitable Trust The John Thaw Foundation The Tillett Trust UK Friends of the Felix-MendelssohnBartholdy-Foundation Garfield Weston Foundation The Barbara Whatmore Charitable Trust Youth Music and others who wish to remain anonymous

Sound Futures Donors We are grateful to the following donors for their generous contributions to Sound Futures, which will establish our first ever endowment. Donations from those below, as well as many who have chosen to remain anonymous, have already been matched pound for pound by Arts Council England through a Catalyst Endowment grant. By May 2015 we aim to have raised £1 million which, when matched, will create a £2 million fund supporting our Education and Community Programme, our creative programming and major artistic projects at Southbank Centre. We thank those who are helping us to realise the vision. Masur Circle Arts Council England Dunard Fund Emmanuel & Barrie Roman The Sharp Family The Underwood Trust Welser-Möst Circle John Ireland Charitable Trust Neil Westreich Tennstedt Circle Simon Robey Simon & Vero Turner The late Mr K Twyman Solti Patrons Ageas Anonymous John & Manon Antoniazzi Georgy Djaparidze Mrs Mina Goodman and Miss Suzanne Goodman Robert Markwick The Rothschild Foundation Haitink Patrons Mark & Elizabeth Adams Lady Jane Berrill David & Yi Yao Buckley Bruno de Kegel Goldman Sachs International Moya Greene Tony and Susie Hayes Lady Roslyn Marion Lyons Diana and Allan Morgenthau Charitable Trust Dr Karen Morton Ruth Rattenbury Sir Bernard Rix

Kasia Robinski David Ross and Line Forestier (Canada) Tom and Phillis Sharpe Mr & Mrs G Stein TFS Loans Limited The Tsukanov Family Foundation Guy & Utti Whittaker Pritchard Donors Anonymous Linda Blackstone Michael Blackstone Yan Bonduelle Richard and Jo Brass Britten-Pears Foundation Business Events Sydney Desmond & Ruth Cecil Lady June Chichester John Childress & Christiane Wuillamie Lindka Cierach Paul Collins Mr Alistair Corbett Dolly Costopoulos Mark Damazer Olivier Demarthe David Dennis Bill & Lisa Dodd Mr David Edgecombe David Ellen Commander Vincent Evans Karima & David G Lyuba Galkina David Goldberg Mr Daniel Goldstein Ffion Hague Rebecca Halford Harrison Michael & Christine Henry Honeymead Arts Trust John Hunter

Ivan Hurry Rehmet Kassim-Lakha Tanya Kornilova Peter Leaver Mr Mark Leishman LVO and Mrs Fiona Leishman Howard & Marilyn Levene Mr Gerald Levin Wg. Cdr. & Mrs M T Liddiard OBE JP RAF Dr Frank Lim Dr Eva Lotta & Mr Thierry Sciard Peter Mace Geoff & Meg Mann Ulrike Mansel Marsh Christian Trust John Montgomery Rosemary Morgan Paris Natar John Owen Edmund Pirouet Mr Michael Posen Sarah & John Priestland Victoria Provis William Shawcross Tim Slorick Howard Snell Lady Valerie Solti Stanley Stecker Lady Marina Vaizey Helen Walker Timothy Walker AM Laurence Watt Des & Maggie Whitelock Brian Whittle Christopher Williams Peter Wilson Smith Victoria Yanakova Mr Anthony Yolland

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Administration

Board of Directors Victoria Sharp OBE Chairman Stewart McIlwham* President Gareth Newman* Vice-President Dr Manon Antoniazzi Richard Brass Desmond Cecil CMG Vesselin Gellev* Jonathan Harris CBE FRICS Dr Catherine C. Høgel Martin Höhmann* George Peniston* Kevin Rundell* Julian Simmonds Mark Templeton* Natasha Tsukanova Timothy Walker AM Laurence Watt Neil Westreich * Player-Director Advisory Council Victoria Sharp OBE Chairman Christopher Aldren Richard Brass David Buckley Sir Alan Collins KCVO CMG Andrew Davenport Jonathan Dawson Edward Dolman Christopher Fraser OBE Lord Hall of Birkenhead CBE Jamie Korner Clive Marks OBE FCA Stewart McIlwham Sir Bernard Rix Baroness Shackleton Lord Sharman of Redlynch OBE Thomas Sharpe QC Martin Southgate Sir Philip Thomas Sir John Tooley Chris Viney Timothy Walker AM Elizabeth Winter American Friends of the London Philharmonic Orchestra, Inc. Jenny Ireland Co-Chairman William A. Kerr Co-Chairman Kyung-Wha Chung Alexandra Jupin Dr. Felisa B. Kaplan Jill Fine Mainelli Kristina McPhee Dr. Joseph Mulvehill Harvey M. Spear, Esq. Danny Lopez Hon. Chairman Noel Kilkenny Hon. Director Victoria Sharp OBE Hon. Director Richard Gee, Esq Of Counsel Jenifer L. Keiser, CPA, EisnerAmper LLP

Chief Executive

Education and Community

Digital Projects

Timothy Walker AM Chief Executive and Artistic Director

Isabella Kernot Education Director

Alison Atkinson Digital Projects Director

Alexandra Clarke Education and Community Project Manager

Matthew Freeman Recordings Consultant

Amy Sugarman PA to the Chief Executive / Administrative Assistant Finance David Burke General Manager and Finance Director

Lucy Duffy Education and Community Project Manager

Public Relations Albion Media (Tel: 020 3077 4930)

Richard Mallett Education and Community Producer